Press Releases

Preliminary Annual Report on U.S. Holding of Foreign Securities

(Archived Content)

WASHINGTON – Preliminary data from an annual survey of U.S. portfolio holdings of foreign securities at year-end 2008 were released today and posted on the Treasury web site at http://www.treas.gov/tic/fpis.html. Final survey results, which will include additional detail as well as revisions to the data, will be reported on October 30, 2009.

The survey was undertaken jointly by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.  

A complementary survey measuring foreign holdings of U.S. securities also is conducted annually.   Data from the most recent such survey, which reports on securities held on June 30, 2009, are currently being processed. Preliminary results are expected to be reported on February 26, 2010.

Overall Preliminary Results

The survey measured U.S. holdings at year-end 2008 of approximately $4.3 trillion, with $2.7 trillion held in foreign equities, $1.3 trillion in foreign long-term debt securities (original term-to-maturity in excess of one year), and $0.3 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities. The previous such survey, conducted as of year-end 2007, measured U.S. holdings of $7.2 trillion, with $5.2 trillion held in foreign equities, $1.6 trillion in foreign long-term debt securities and $0.4 trillion held in foreign short-term debt securities.

Table 1.   U.S. holdings of foreign securities, by type of security, as of survey dates [1]
(Billions of dollars)

 

Type of Security

Dec. 31, 2007

Dec. 31, 2008

 

 

 

Long-term Securities

6,855

4,009

                Equity

5,248

2,748

                Long-term debt

1,607

1,261

Short-term debt securities

357

282

 

 

 

Total

7,212

4,291

 

U.S. Portfolio Investment by Country

Table 2.   U.S. holdings of foreign securities, by country of issuer and type of security, for the countries attracting the most U.S. portfolio investment, as of December 31, 2008
(Billions of dollars, except as noted)

 

Country or region

Total

        Equity

Long-Term Debt

Short-Term Debt

1

United Kingdom

647

377

185

  85

2

Japan

403

348

  54

    2

3

Canada

378

180

166

  32

4

Cayman Islands

315

95

202

  18

5

France

285

212

  58

  15

6

Germany

255

160

  80

  15

7

Switzerland

218

214

    4

    *

8

Netherlands

169

  77

  75

  18

9

Bermuda

163

143

  19

    1

10

Australia

146

  65

  71

    9

11

Spain

  93

  63

  25

    5

12

Brazil

  91

  72

  19

    *

13

Mexico

  65

  46

  19

    *

14

Hong Kong

  65

  61

    3

    *

15

Ireland

  63

  22

  23

  18

16

Italy

  62

  47

  13

    1

17

Luxembourg

  60

  16

  37

    8

18

Sweden

  59

  30

  20

    9

19

Korea , South

  56

  45

  10

    *

20

China , Mainland

  55

  53

    2

    *

21

Israel

  46

  31

  15

    *

22

Taiwan

  41

  41

    *

    0

23

Finland

  41

  36

    3

    3

24

Netherlands Antilles

  38

  37

    1

    *

25

Jersey

  37

  11

    8

  19

 

Rest of world

437

264

148

  24

 

Total

        4,291

        2,748

        1,261

282

 

* Greater than zero, but less than $500 million


[1]   The stock of foreign securities for December 31, 2008 reported in this survey may not, for a number of reasons, correspond to the stock of foreign securities on December 31, 2007, plus cumulative flows reported in Treasury's transactions reporting system. The final report on U.S. holdings of foreign securities as of end-year 2008 will contain an analysis of the relation between the stock and flow data.